Chapter XIX
The new wave of soldiers arrived in the middle of February. Julia and all the other nurses were very busy again (not that they had days when there was no work) and Julia actually didn't mind at all, although she was enourmously exhausted by the amount of work she was doing for the past three years already. She knew that her mind was occupied and therefore she wasn't allowed to think of anything else but doing in what she was best: helping others.
Leslie got used to work as a nurse as well as Walt's Lily who signed up as a VAD at the beginning of the year. Lily seemed to "really like it", mostly because she was close to her fiancee. Julia was quite disappointed that Lily didn't go to work in her hospital in London and went to Basingstoke instead, but as Lily assured her in her letter: "Your Matron wrote me that your hospital is fully equipped with both people and equipment for medical uses.". And to her surprise, Julia could really believe that.
Olive, Claire, Leslie and Julia were during their night-duty and each of them were working in four different parts of the hospital, simply whirled into work. Julia was running up and down the hall with bandages and morphine in her hands, hardly being able to see or hear that some of the soldiers that arrived were Canadians. Suddenly, just after hearing the distant sound of shouting, Julia saw and more importantly heard her cousin running, or maybe even flying towards her with perfectly red and wet face "Julia! He's found! He's found!" she was shouting and threw her arms on Julia.
"Leslie, you don't mean Gilly, do you?" she replied hurriedly and then under seeing her friend's shining eyes, she gasped breathlessly "Do you? Oh my Goodness!" she shouted. She turned her head quickly to a soldier lying on the bed next to her.
"You go, Sister. I'll wait for you." the man said joyfully and one second later he could see the two happy nurses running together to the next block.
"Is he alright?" Julia asked Leslie when they opened the door of the main hall.
"A bullet was found in his thigh, but other than that, he seems fine." Leslie replied in a very high-pitched voice.
Julia laughed cheerfully and thought that after all, God was still there and was watching after her boys.
Flying Officer Gilbert Ford, was quite badly wounded in his thigh and had to stay in the hospital for the next four months. Julia, Leslie and their family were crying with joy which was quickly spreading across their faces and some of the spark of the old days from before the war came back into their lives. Blythe teased Julia in his next letter. He wrote: "I will say something very overrated and not new at all but there you go: told you! Didn't I tell you he is safe and sound? Didn't I?".
But the remaining question was, why did Gil get wounded and missing? Gilly explained it all to the girls the day after he was found in the hospital: "My plane crushed into the woods of the unknown land somewhere, I presume, in Italy. From the group of five pilot-men in our cabin, only me and the other officer, Frank Harolds, survived the landing.
"We got out of the airplane and we started looking for any kind of camp which belonged to the British. However quickly before we got out of the plane, four Germans found us while patrolling the woods. They recognised us by our uniforms and we started running away as quickly as we could. Unfortunately they had guns and we didn't. That's why my thigh is in the condition as it is now.
"After they shot me in the thigh and Frank in the arm, they took us to their camp and we stayed there as their prisoners for this whole time. They didn't beat us or anything, thank Goodness, we just had to stay in our cell. My biggest problem during this time was that I couldn't do anything with my thigh and that Frank was in the other cell and we couldn't communicate in any way.
"We escaped one week ago, when the British won over the Germans and took over their camp. They found us and immediately sent us here for the recovery."
"And here you are." Leslie hugged her brother's arm tenderly.
"And here I am." he agreed and squeezed her hand "With you my girls." and he smiled at both Julia and Leslie. And then the three of them cried together for the rest of the afternoon.
One night in April, Julia and Leslie found Gilly talking in a very passionate way with the other nurse. A very pretty, dark-haired nurse. Julia and Leslie later on would find out that her name was Faye Williams. Leslie's eyes filled up with anger and she made a step forwards in order to go and ask the nurse for some privacy with her long-lost brother. However Julia stopped her by grabbing her arm "Leslie, leave them." she said to her cousin gently.
"But why can she talk with my brother and I can't?" she hissed "With my brother whom I almost thought was dead? Why would I leave them? Alone?".
"Because…" Julia started and turned her friend around to face them "-they are in love." and she smiled gladly. Leslie humphed angrily and came back to their room, clenching her fists like a little girl. Julia rolled her eyes. She took one last glance at her cousin and the mysterious nurse, then turned around and she hopped back to their room as well.
And so, Flight Officer Gilbert Ford, returned to the front at the beggining of June, being kissed from head to toe by not two but three girls whom he loved.
Leslie got used to the idea of Gilly having a sweetheart because as it turned out, Faye Williams was a very nice nineteen-year old British nurse. She was very polite and quiet and it was even hard to believe that the loud and funny Gil was interested in her. But he was, and he told so Leslie and Julia: "And as quiet and shy as she is, she entered my life quietly without making any sound, and she will remain in it till the very end."
There was never a chance for either Julia or Leslie to get to know more of Faye because she was moved to a different hospital in the south of London. However Julia had a feeling that she will see her again, though not in England but in her very own Glen. One day.
Dear Sheba,
I feel very proud of you again, that you decided to sign up as a military nurse and go "into the continent" after the summer. I won't say that I'm not worried because I am; who knows what kind of things will welcome you there? But I feel glad because I know that you want to do it, and I'm especially glad that you will go there with this Olive of yours.
This is really ridiculous how quickly time flies when you are whirled up in war. Can you believe it's June 1943 already? I can't. I am twenty-two years old and I'm a Flight Lieutenant! Who would have thought, back six years ago, what would become of me in the end?
But enough talking about time. The more important thing is that, as you were probably informed earlier like me, with the telegram, that my brother, Owen, enlisted to the navy. I am quite shocked to be honest, because he was always so against violence, a bit like me, and very very shy. He wrote me that he felt it was also his duty and with all his siblings overseas doing something for the war, he didn't want to be left out. And so he chose the navy and said that he will go for his training in August and to the front in late September.
I pray for him greatly because I know how scared he is. We were always so close, much closer than I ever was with Gilly. Owen and I just know each other in our own way, and most importantly we understand each other's souls. I can't believe that my every boy-cousin and all of my brothers are now in the army. It's quite a scary thought actually, but I believe that everything happens for a reason and therefore now the only thing left for us to do is to "Keep Calm and Carry On" as the British say now.
I'm sending you another great pile of my new and very rushed poems I wrote on my knees in the pilot's cabin a week ago. I hope that you will like them. Now, I'll stop talking about the war.
Yesterday I got a photograph from our darling cousin Rose. She was standing outside the manse with Aunt Nan and Uncle Jerry and the little Jackie was standing in the very middle. Can you believe how quickly he grew up? He's almost two years old! He is the very picture of Rose though (except for the eyes of course). I'm sure that one day he will be a heart-breaker.
Tell me dearest, can you send me the newest photograph of yourself? I'm getting two photographs from Leslie every single month and I can't remember when was the last time I got yours.
I'll have to go now, we're flying over to France tomorrow morning.
Sweet dreams,
Flight Lieutenant Blythe Ford
"Look at my baby brother, Sheba!" Leslie gasped and showed Julia the photograph of no one else but Owen Ford in his new navy uniform.
It was almost the end of summer and therefore the last week before Julia's and Olive's departure to the France's front. All four girls were sitting in the circle on the floor while reading out the letters from their families and drinking lemonade.
"Is that Owen?" Julia asked in disbelief when she took the picture in her hands and looked at it closely "He looks so mature! And grown-up!"
"Well, he's eighteen after all." Leslie said "And with every year he looks more and more like our Grandfather Blythe." she sighed happily.
"Yes, he does." Julia agreed with a smile "Excpet for his hair. It's as dark as your Dad's."
"That's true." Leslie admitted "I can't believe that he still didn't get himself a girlfriend!" she exclaimed.
Julia looked at her cautiously "He still has time, you know." she said eventually.
"And do you have a boyfriend, Leslie?" Olive asked looking knowingly at Julia who was doing her best not to giggle.
"No," Leslie's cheeks turned red "But when I was eighteen…" she started.
"Which was just two years ago…" Julia added with a smirk on her face.
"… I already had three boyfriends." Leslie finished and took a sip of lemonade from her glass.
Julia and Olive rolled their eyes and chuckled together.
"Have you started packing up yet, Julia?" Claire asked her friend, trying to change the subject.
Julia laughed "Of course not!" she said "I always pack at the very last minute."
"That's true." Leslie said and poked Julia in the arm.
"I can't believe both of you will leave us…" Claire said suddenly with sadness in her eyes.
Julia smiled sympathetically "I know, dear Claire." she put a hand on Claire's shoulder "But it's not as if we were leaving you forever." she said.
"Well, certainly not when it comes to you and Leslie." Clare replied "You two are cousins and both live in Canada and will meet there probably, after the war. And when it comes to me, I don't know when I shall see you again." she said and her eyes turned watery.
Julia was quite surprised by Claire's reaction but she also felt very moved and her own eyes started filling up with tears "We will see each other again, you'll see." she replied with a forced grin on her face.
"I think I might cry!" Olive said in a dramatic voice and she threw her arms on Julia and Claire. Leslie followed Olive's example and so the four girls spent the rest of the afternoon hugging each other and making promises, which only time would show whether they would be fulfilled.